The Darkest Secrets
by shetalksalot
Summary: It's not all roses and butterflies, and as Aria finds out sometimes you have to sacrifice the best thing you've ever known to protect the only true person you've ever loved. Aria/Ezra


**And I'm back! Oh how I have missed this place. Please accept my two year leave of absence as a minor bump in the road. I got way too busy! But I was in the mood to write tonight, and since I need to catch myself up on my other stories, I figured I'd start a new one in the mean time. **

**Please, as always, let me know what you think. And if you're new to my stories, I'm Morgan:)**

**Enjoy!**

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The Darkest Secrets

Chapter 1: Secrets

I ran my fingers over his bare chest as we laid underneath the trees, the hot summer sun shining through the canopies. It was the middle of the summer and we were sprawled out on a blanket but the riverside. It had been a gorgeous day so far, and we were silently laying here, our tummies just full from lunch, our bodies wet from a swim in the river. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect last memory to cherish, as everything I had every known was about to change more than I ever thought possible.

"Can you tell me something?" I asked him. He took my hand in his, intertwining our fingers, "Hmm?"

Propping myself up on my elbow I looked at him. He was the epitomy of gorgeous. Dark hair, dark eyes, defined features, and I still couldn't believe he was all mine. It hadn't been easy, and it never would be, especially now. "What's one thing you don't like about me?" His facial features shifted, confusion crossing his face.

"Is this a serious question?"

I sat up now, looking at him for real, and he did the same. "I'm serious Ezra."

He laughed slightly, unsure of what to do, "And I'm serious gorgeous, I love everything about you, you know that."

I let out a frustrated groan, "This is serious. You cant possibly like everything about me."

"Aria…."

In truth I wanted justification, justification for what I was about to tell him, what I was about to do. I didn't want to feel like the bad guy for throwing this all on him. I didn't want to be the one responsible for the drastic shift in our lives that was about to take place. I didn't want to be the one responsible for any of it, and yet I was the only one who had to be in reality.

It all seemed to come out at once, a lot easier than I thought it would, "We need to break up."

The expression on his face broke my heart and I didn't know what to do at that moment. Did I just leave, or stick around to hear what he was about to say? I didn't want to stick around to listen to him try to convince me out of this. But I didn't have a choice, this was the best for both of us, and only if he knew the truth would he think the same thing. I was saving both of our asses, at the expense of our relationship.

Everything inside me was screaming not to do this, to just tell him the truth, but I wouldn't, I couldn't.

After the shock registered off his mind, he muttered a shallow, "What?"

"I'm sorry," was all I could manage to say before I grabbed my bag and ran off.

I kept going, not bothering to listen to his yelling of my name as I ran and ran until I knew I was far enough for him not to catch up. My phone rang constantly during my entire walk home, and I silently cursed myself for ruining everything. If I had just remembered, if I had not forgotten that one thing, none of this would be happening.

I collapsed on the couch the second I walked into my air conditioned house, finally relaxing enough to catch my breath and fully understand what had just happened, what I had just done, what I had just ruined, forever. The tears fell, and I wasn't about to hide anything, I would already be doing that soon.

I pulled out my phone, eighteen missed calls, all from Ezra. This tried to convince myself this wasn't happening, that this was all just a dream, but if I did that, just as I had been the past eight weeks, I'd never grow up and face reality.

School started in five weeks, and until then, I had to not talk to Ezra. I just had to. It was going to be bad enough seeing him everyday at school, sitting in his class. I didn't even know how I was going to face him then, how I was going to look at the hurt in his eyes, the questioning.

No one else knew, no one except me. This was my dirty secret, a secret that could destroy him. It was already destroying me.

It happened two months ago, actually it was prom night. I obviously couldn't go with Ezra, and there was nothing else I wanted more than to be able to. My mom made me go with some kid in her class, and he was nice, actually way too nice to me, considering how distant I was to him. Poor guy, he didn't know any different.

Well, anyway, once we actually got to the dance, and I saw Ezra with all the other teachers, doing what teachers do at dances, I lost it. I didn't want to be there without him as my date, because he was the only one my heart belonged to and it just didn't seem right to be there dancing with someone else.

He knew it too, he slowly made his way away from the teachers and I saw him slip out into the hallway, I knew that was my moment, so I excused myself to go to the bathroom. And there he was standing at the end of the hallway, hands in his pockets, a slight grin on his face, "I hoped you'd follow me," he whispered just loud enough for me to hear. I slid off my heels so I wouldn't make any noise running to the end of the hallway. Once I was there, he grabbed my hand, turning down the other ing toward his classroom. We walked through the open door, shutting it silently behind us, his hands already working to un zipper my dress. How easily it slid off me and onto the floor amazed me, and before I knew it, we were laying across his desk thirty minutes later, both barely dressed.

And the rest, as they say is history, but in this case, it is gonna be a long ass history, once with more challenges ahead than I could ever have imagined. And this is only the beginning.


End file.
